


And They Were Roommates...

by ImaginationCubed



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Fraternities & Sororities, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, Roommates, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26379880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaginationCubed/pseuds/ImaginationCubed
Summary: Walking into his freshman year dorm seemed too good to be true. A quiet, considerate, and hot roommate chosen at random was luck Shiro couldn't fathom.Too bad it seemed like Keith wasn't interested in making friends.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 89





	And They Were Roommates...

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have much to say besides that I felt like writing a short college AU sheith lol

Shiro thought he was prepared for college.

Well, in all fairness, he technically was. At least for the college part. Freshman year classes weren’t nearly as hard as he was conditioned to believe by the constant demands and remarks received of his high school teachers. Rushing and pledging a fraternity was a breeze, even if it included some of his stupider life decisions. Making new friends came as naturally as ever. In fact, the only hard part was laying in the bunk beneath him.

It wasn’t as if he hated Keith or even mildly disliked him. No, if anything, it always seemed to be the opposite. If there was something that he did to upset his oddly distant roommate, he was still completely lost on what it could’ve been. Especially when move-in day seemed to go so smoothly. 

Shiro let out an audible sigh and turned his body towards the wall, letting his eyes roam over the small lines between the cylinder blocks as the cheap mattress and bed frame squeaked beneath him. It wasn’t like Keith was a bad roommate. Actually, he was a great one. He was fairly clean, kept quiet, and never put Shiro in any of the uncomfortable situations that everyone joked would happen when he lived in a dorm. Truly, the only issue was Keith’s insistence on not letting Shiro in. Yeah, technically Keith wasn’t obligated to do that in the first place, but the situation still sent a stabbing pain through his chest as he mourned the one college experience he longed for the most in all the years leading up to it.

Having a college roommate that would become a life-long best friend.

While it was true that he still had several more years of school to make that dream come true, there was still something about Keith that made it difficult to let go. Maybe it was the charming voice as Keith played away on his guitar, or the way that he always checked to make sure Shiro was okay with anything he did in the room that could be of inconvenience, or possibly the way he laughed when he talked to loved ones on the phone. 

And catching glimpses of Keith’s toned body when he hung out in the room after a lazy morning surely wasn’t doing Shiro any favors.

Okay, maybe there were some other feelings there too.

No. He needed something else to do. Spending his whole Friday night agonizing over the roommate he wished would give him a shot wasn’t going to change anything or make the year magically speed up. 

Rolling over, he cautiously maneuvered out of his bunk and double checked the placement of his feet before dropping his weight onto the floor while simultaneously watching the proximity of the ceiling to his head. While Keith had offered to switch bunks with him when he noticed the amount of effort it took Shiro to safely escape the glorified cot, there was a part of Shiro that couldn’t bear to take Keith up on such a selfless offer.

Okay, maybe he exaggerated when he said Keith obviously hated him. 

There was just something so much easier about pretending Keith didn’t like him than admitting that Keith was truly apathetic towards him.

He stepped over towards his wardrobe and sifted through the exposed clothing. Sticking his hand into the collection, he separated a leather jacket from the rest of the hangers and slid it over his body. With a turn of his head, he announced, “I’m headed over to the frat house.”

“Okay,” Keith answered before glancing up and away from his phone. 

Stunning purple eyes moved over Shiro’s form as the rest of Keith remained still, black hair cascading across his pillow and around the large headphones that came over his head as his legs tangled with the extra blanket at the foot of his bed. It was always amazing how, even in the most unflattering of moments, Keith could force him to fight the involuntary curl of his lips.

Of course, Shiro won the roommate lottery: kind, considerate, and studious. And of course, said roommate had to be breathtaking with no intention of making friends.

Just his luck.

* * *

Shiro tipped back the plastic solo cup in his prosthetic hand, letting the remainder of the bitter liquid slip past his lips before tuning back into whatever it was that Matt was rambling on about. Usually, swallowing whatever mystery liquid he was handed wasn’t exactly Shiro’s forte, even if it had been a large part of the hazing that totally didn’t happen when he pledged to the fraternity, but something about the thunderous pop music shaking the old house and the sweaty, unappealing mixing of bodies had an odd way of making it seem pleasurable. 

Or maybe he was just lying to himself again.

Even the intoxication brewing within him wasn’t enough to ignore the spiraling train of thought that insisted on plaguing his every waking moment lately.

Shiro invited Keith to one of the Friday night parties a few months ago, closer to the beginning of the semester when he still felt a small sliver of hope that Keith would want to get closer to him. While Keith initially responded with another generic rejection, the hometown friend he was video chatting with—James, if he caught the name correctly—managed to coax him into saying otherwise. Though, nothing was meant to last as the memory that remained drilled into his brain from that night was a vivid image of Keith alone in the corner of a quieter room, picking at the rim of an empty solo cup he only drank out of once and gaze quickly flicking around the room uncomfortably. 

In retrospect, it made Shiro feel like an asshole for still dragging Keith out. 

Maybe they really were destined to do nothing further than co-exist until the end of the year.

“Shiro? Shiro? Are you even listening?”

He snapped his attention back towards Matt as fast as his impaired brain would allow him to.

With a small playful wave, Matt continued. “Welcome back. How was your trip?”

“You should give him a break. He can’t help it if he’s unable to stop thinking about a certain someone.” Lotor butted in with a hand on his hip and a knowing smirk to match. The sway of his high ponytail only added to the teasing tone in his words.

Great. Even after five drinks, Shiro was still being read like an open book.

“It’s fine,” Shiro replied with an unexpected slur affecting his words. 

“You’re still upset about Keith?” Matt crossed his arms over his chest, “You just need to talk to him.”

Shiro suddenly wished there was more alcohol left in his cup. “Easier said than done.” 

“Have you even tried?” Lotor took a small sip from the plastic cup in his free hand. “You can’t expect him to read your mind.”

Shiro looked away pointedly, shrugging his shoulders slightly. 

“I’ve asked him to come to a few things... and the time he came to the party, he looked like he didn’t want to be there.” Shiro adjusted his hat. “He obviously doesn’t want to hang out.”

“Have you asked him to do something he likes?” Matt leaned his weight back on one leg, popping his hip out along with it. “He might not be a party guy.”

Shiro furrowed his eyebrows. Had he asked Keith to join him for activities other than hanging out in groups of people? Yeah, he was extending an invitation and being polite by doing so, but it still didn’t mean that Keith necessarily felt comfortable joining in on his idea of fun.

Maybe Matt was right.

That same knowing smirk found its way to Lotor’s lips again. He swung his occupied arm out slightly and flicked his head to get his bangs out of his eyes. 

“You should try now. Before you know it, someone else will. Keith’s not exactly the type who’d have to struggle for some attention.”

Lotor was right. It wasn’t as if others hadn’t noticed Keith’s striking looks. Still, something about the statement only acknowledging Keith’s physical appearance rubbed Shiro the wrong way. There was more, oh, so much more, to who Keith was than the glimpse people received from a simple look at him. They could thirst after him all they wanted, but they would never know the kindness, the creativity, the talent living beneath those looks, the things that made Keith who he was.

Even if he didn’t want to express many of those things towards Shiro.

“What is there to do on campus without big groups of people?” Shiro asked. 

If Shiro could admit any of his flaws, it was definitely his lack of creativity. His grades in his courses may be worthy of being on the dean’s list, and he might somehow naturally make friends without trying, but when it came down to him to come up with out of the box ideas, it was never his strong suit.

“I don’t know. Just ask him to go with you to the dining hall or something,” Matt suggested with a shrug, letting some of the contents of his cup splash out and onto the floor as he moved carelessly. “Midnight Oasis is tonight if you wanna go for it now.”

Matt was just as on point as Lotor. There were plenty of mundane things he could invite Keith to do on campus that he’d overlooked. Maybe Keith just needed an invitation to do something quiet to get him to open up? It wasn’t like Keith didn’t have friends. He made at least one in his high school years, so there had to be some way to coax him out of his shell. Even if it was just between the two of them.

Something told Shiro he was about to let the alcohol do the talking when he got back.

* * *

“You, me, Midnight Oasis,” Shiro blurted out as the door squeaked behind him. 

With a few uneven steps forward, he let the door close fully and braced himself on Keith’s wardrobe as the world slowly spun around him.

Keith looked up, the darkness of the room letting his laptop illuminate his face and the rainbow flag hung on the wall behind him. The same one he hung up on move-in day when Shiro came out to him and Keith responded with information about his own sexuality. He hadn’t taken it down since, just added more decorations to the wall next to his bed.

Keith blinked twice, eyes never leaving the sight before him despite the lack of detail the faint light provided. “Um, what?”

“We’re going to Midnight Oasis,” Shiro repeated, a slur infecting his words as he felt the ground move underneath him again.

“Uh...” Keith drug out the syllable as he took in the situation, then flashed Shiro a look of confusion before continuing. “Why don’t you sit down first? You look like you’re going to fall.” 

With a flick of his wrist, he casually pointed towards the empty half of his bed with his index finger.

Shiro felt a surge of confidence and pushed himself off the wardrobe, clumsily ambling towards Keith’s bed. Since when was it so far?

Shiro found himself on the other side of Keith’s bed, plopping ungracefully onto the squeaky mattress. He leaned back against the frame. Focusing his mind and eyes on Keith, Shiro watched his face for some sort of reaction.

Keith’s beautiful, alluring face.

His eyes dropped to Keith’s lips. God, he wanted to kiss them.

Keith’s gaze flicked to the comforter for a brief moment before moving back to Shiro, and his teeth dug into his lips as he fought off a smile. “Okay. So, no, we’re not going out to Midnight Oasis.”

A sharp pain shot through Shiro, and a frown quickly etched itself onto his face before he could acknowledge it.

“Hey, stop. Don’t get sad. You look like a kicked puppy, and you haven’t let me finish.” Keith reached out towards Shiro’s shoulder, then retracted his movement. Darting his eyes around the room, he continued, “You’re drunk, and I’m not letting you get caught for underage drinking.”

He blinked silently at Keith. Was he hearing Keith right? Was he just drunk? Was he imagining everything in the first place?

Keith swallowed, shoulders sinking forward and teeth gnawing at his bottom lip as he failed to make eye contact. “Do... Do you really want to hang out with me though? I-I mean, I get it if I was a last resort or something I won’t—“

How could Keith think he wasn’t serious?

“Of course! I was just at a party, and I came back to ask you specifically,” Shiro pointed out, words coming out much louder than he intended. 

He needed to thank the drinks for that one. And for the next one. 

“Did... Did I do something wrong?” Shiro finally questioned. 

There had been months of failed bonding between them, months of awkward silences filling the room, months of wondering what had gone sour so quickly. 

He had to know. Even if the answer only twisted the knife deeper into his chest.

Keith furrowed his eyebrows, concern flicking into his eyes and fingers moving to pick at his cuticles as he went to speak. 

“No? Did I make you think that?”

“You never want to talk with me. You never want to hang out with me. The whole semester we’ve done nothing but co-exist.” Shiro lowered his voice. “I was just really hoping we could be friends.”

“Oh...” Keith’s eyes darted away again as a frown took over his pretty lips. “I, um...” 

He paused, then opened his mouth to continue before closing it once more. After a few seconds, he finally spoke again. 

“I don’t want you to tell anyone this okay?” 

Once Shiro nodded, he resumed his words. 

“So, um, I kinda have anxiety. Talking with people isn’t exactly my crowning achievement. And I, I just see you with your whole frat and everything, and I get worried it might just be some sort of big joke? I mean... why would you want me when you have them?”

“Because you’re kind,” Shiro answered. “You’re talented, you’re... you’re everything.”

Okay. That last one was the alcohol. He’d assure Keith again when he was nice and sober. He deserved it.

A faint red crept up on Keith’s cheeks and another stunning smile replaced his previous discouraged look. “I know you don’t mean that. I mean, look at you. You’re out of my league.”

Shiro leaned forward, liquid confidence encouraging his movements. “But I do. You’re the one who needs a mirror.”

Keith shook his head, still unable to rid himself of the cute curl of his lips. “Is this a roommate heart-to-heart, or are you asking for a date?”

He flashed Keith a small pout. “Can’t it be both?”

A hand reached up and gently rested over Keith’s mouth, hiding the growing smile that his cheeks failed to conceal. “Maybe. Why?”

“Because I want you to have more friends, and I think you’re really amazing.” Shiro insisted, accidentally emphasizing certain words as he spoke. “Can’t you date a friend too?”

“I guess.” Keith closed the lid on the laptop beside him. With one movement, he leaned in and pressed a small peck to Shiro’s cheek. “Let’s see how you feel when you’re sober. Get some rest. We’ll get breakfast in the morning.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”


End file.
